Walters leaving Kennett Library
As the Kennett Library breaks ground on its new facility next month, its trustees will also be searching for a new executive director.
Megan Walters, who has spent the last four years heading the library, recently submitted her resignation, according to a press release from the library’s board of trustees. She will remain at the Kennett Library until her tentative last day on Aug. 27 before heading to Florida to become a library director on a military base, according to a press release.
“Megan brought so much to the library,” said Jeff Yetter, the Kennett Library Trustees president. “Her youthful spirit and energy helped move the library from a traditional library to a community center.”
He called Walters “instrumental in helping the library grow,” and said she was “an enthusiastic participant in the development of plans for the new Library and Resource Center.
“She was dedicated to making the library a welcoming place for everyone from new immigrants to teens who had never stepped foot in our building. The community has benefitted greatly from her vision and leadership.”
That is a theme that the board of trustees hopes to find in the next executive director. Yetter said the board hopes to hire a new director by the end of the year.
“We have set up a candidate review process that includes members of our community,” he said in a recent interview. “We want this to be an inclusive process so that candidates for the job will know that the library is a resource and a staple in our community. We want to take our time and find the right candidate to lead the library during this very exciting time.”
Yetter said that in the interim, trustees and library staff will continue building on Walters’ work.
“We have a very good working board dedicated to the library and the new building project,” he said. “Several of them have already stepped up to help during this time.”
Walters said in the press release that she was grateful for the library’s many supporters.
“I have lived in Kennett Square longer than I have lived anywhere else, and will always hold this area and the people in a special place in my heart,” she said. “While I will miss the area, travel is in my blood, and I feel like it is time to take on a new challenge.”
Dan Pennacchia, a part-time programming assistant at the library, said Walters was always open to hearing new ideas from the staff.
“We’ve done tons of different things,” Pennacchia said about library happenings during Walters’ tenure. He mentioned a “Stranger Things” watch party that the library held two years ago, where they streamed a new episode of the popular Netflix series each week.
“There’s just a lot of different things we’ve been able to do that she’s been on board with,” he said.
The Kennett Library serves the borough of Kennett Square and the townships of East Marlborough, Kennett, Newlin, New Garden, Pennsbury, Pocopson, and West Marlborough.
On Aug. 12, ground will be broken on the $18 million building, which will feature among other things the library, a 110-seat auditorium, Maker Spaces, meeting and study rooms, and more.
About Monica Fragale
Monica Thompson Fragale is a freelance reporter who spent her life dreaming of being in the newspaper business. That dream came true after college when she started working at The Kennett Paper and, years later The Reporter newspaper in Lansdale and other dailies. She turned to non-profit work after her first daughter was born and spent the next 13 years in that field. But while you can take the girl out of journalism, you can’t take journalism out of the girl. Offers to freelance sparked the writing bug again started her fingers happily tapping away on the keyboard. Monica lives with her husband and two children in Kennett Square.
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